ACT artistic director Carey Perloff will step down at the end of the company’s 2017-18 season, the theater announced Thursday, March 23. She has been at the helm of San Francisco’s largest theater company since 1992.

“Serving as artistic director of ACT for the past 25 years has been the greatest joy of my life,” Perloff said in a statement. “It never occurred to me when I arrived in San Francisco in 1992 that I would love this job, this city, this audience and this staff so much that I would stay here for a quarter of a century.”

Among Perloff’s many accomplishments have been funding the repair of the Geary Theater after the 1989 earthquake; the purchase of a second venue, in the Strand Theater; the direction of more than 50 main stage productions; the commissioning of world premieres including “A Thousand Splendid Suns” and “Stuck Elevator”; and the expansion of ACT’s professional actor training into a three-year Master of Fine Arts degree program.

Upon her departure, Perloff says she will focus on her own creative projects: “I am truly excited to finally have the chance to explore my own work -- as a director, playwright and book author -- without carrying all of the administrative burdens of an institution...That I get to direct Pinter’s ‘The Birthday Party’ with Marco Barricelli, Scott Wentworth and Judith Ivey -- and another soon-to-be announced favorite classic--during my final season is icing on the cake.”

ACT board chair Nancy Livingston calls Perloff’s tenure “nothing short of phenomenal. Not only is she an extraordinary artistic director, but also a gifted playwright, author, producer, director, teacher, mentor and consummate fundraiser.”

A successor has not yet been announced; interim executive director Peter Pastreich will assist in the formation of a search committee.